Survey

Overview

A survey is an ordered series of questions or statements assessing attitudes,
behaviors, or personal characteristics that is administered to individuals
in a systematic manner. Surveys may be administered in a variety of mediums
(e.g., paper, oral, electronic) using various delivery methods (e.g.,
face-to-face, telephone, mail, Internet).

Types of surveys

With the growth of the Internet and e-mail, electronic surveys are becoming
more widely used. They can be distributed by paper, as e-mail messages,
or posted as forms on the Internet (e.g., Blackboard
and Ongoing Course Assessment System (OCA)). Both paper
and electronic surveys have strengths and weaknesses.

Suggested uses of surveys:

Gaining insight into user attitudes, satisfaction, and outcomes about
the technology.

Measuring the effects of an instructional technology when used as
part of a single-group experiment.

Limitations of surveys:

Not suitable for collecting in-depth information.

Requires some knowledge or understanding of relevant issues in order
to write appropriate questions and properly organize a survey.

Resource requirements

A moderate level of knowledge about survey design and question writing
is required unless you are using previously validated questions or
surveys. You should also understand how to use and interpret basic
statistics (e.g. frequencies, means, weighting), and have experience
or training in constructing and using spreadsheets databases (for
very large surveys). Data entry may be time consuming, requiring
additional staff, although using scanable answer sheets or an electronic
survey tool will greatly reduce the knowledge, training, and time
required to enter and analyze survey responses. [more]

Plan your survey

STEP 1. Describe the instructional technology and context

Include
the purpose of the instructional technology: the need it addresses,
its expected effects, current resources, and resources needed to implement.
Describe the users (education, motivation, skill levels), learning
objectives in relation to the technology, and the learning context. A
worksheet is available to help
you through this step.

STEP 2. Identify stakeholder needs and develop central questions

Central
questions identify what you and the stakeholders would
want to learn through the survey. For example, "What features
do instructors like about webcasting?" A worksheet is
available to help you identify stakeholder needs and develop
central questions.

STEP 3. Determine the purpose of the survey

A survey should
have a clear purpose and focus. Avoid the temptation of asking too
many questions in a single survey or surveying users "just
to see what's going on." Using your central questions as a guide,
specify how your survey will help you gain insight, change course
practices, or measure the effects of the instructional technology.
A worksheet is
available to help you develop and refine your study’s purposes.

STEP 4. Determine how you will use the results

How you intend
to use results should also guide the content of your survey. If the
answer to a survey question will not assist your instructional technology
assessment, leave the question out. A
worksheet is
available to help exemplify how to use results after determining the
purpose of a study.

STEP 5. Create the survey

Write survey questions

Writing
good survey questions is crucial to avoid compromising
the validity of responses
and limiting your ability to answer research questions. Rewrite questions
until they are clear and succinct.

Determine question type

Organize and format
the survey

The survey
format is very important because a poorly organized survey
may confuse respondents and cause them to skip questions or not
complete the survey.

Conduct pilot testing

Test the survey on a small sample
of individuals that resembles your target sample (but does not include
it) to check if the questions are answered as you intended and how long
it takes to complete the survey. Revise questions as necessary before
administering them to the study sample.